New historical marker to be unveiled at site of first Mobile Mardi Gras parade

The Order of Myths is Mobile's first and oldest parading Mardi Gras association. Its emblem float has remained the same since 1868, consisting of a broken column around which Folly chases Death. The float is still pulled by mules.

A couple of years ago, Mardi Gras enthusiast Steve Joynt, the publisher of Mobile Mask, an annual magazine and website dedicated to all things Carnival, was visiting New Orleans when he noticed a sign marking the starting point of the Krewe of Comus parade. "It was a small brass plaque on the wall, kind of hard to find," he said. "I thought, 'We can do better than that.'"

He became determined to mark the spot where Mobile's first Mardi Gras parade originated, at the intersection of Government and Royal streets. The Order of Myths parade took place on Shrove Tuesday, Feb. 25, 1868.

Joynt approached the Alabama Historical Association, which approved his idea. The city of Mobile agreed to install it - a post has already been cemented into the spot - and three anonymous donors paid just over $2,000 for the new marker.

The historical marker will be dedicated on Friday, Jan. 6, at 12:15 p.m. At midnight on that day, Twelfth Night, or Epiphany, the Carnival season officially begins. Mayor Sandy Stimpson and Joe Cain will attend the event, said Joynt.

Though he has spent his career working as a journalist, Joynt said that coming up with the wording for the marker was "kind of daunting," since the words will be cast in metal and "sitting there for decades." He chose to include "facts you can't easily find," such as the theme of the OOM parade, the number of floats and what they were, and the fact that the marchers stopped at the Temperance Hall for their first ball.

Though the marker is specific to the OOMs, who will celebrate their 150th anniversary in 2017, it's "really about the beginning of all of Mobile's Mardi Gras," Joynt said.

"We encourage anyone who loves Mardi Gras to see the sign unveiled and take pictures with it," he said. The location, directly across the street from the city's new Mardi Gras Park, "is kind of the next step in spreading visual clues to Mardi Gras throughout the city."